What’s The Difference Between A Real Estate Salesperson And A Real Estate Broker?

In a recent post about the latest list of real estate salespersons whose accreditation have been approved by the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service (PRBRES), I received a question asking “what’s the difference between a real estate salesperson and a real estate broker?” Let me try to answer this as objectively as possible through this post.

Before anything else, I would like to say thank you to Kian for the excellent question which he left through a comment.

To avoid any subjectivity in my interpretation, I believe the best way to answer this is to refer directly to what the RESA Law IRR says.

Let us first define the terms Real Estate Broker and Real Estate Salesperson in the Philippines.

Real Estate Broker Definition

As per Section 3-g-(4) of the RESA Law IRR:

“Real estate broker – a duly registered and licensed natural person who, for a professional fee, commission or other valuable consideration, acts as an agent of a party in a real estate transaction to offer, advertise, solicit, list, promote, mediate, negotiate or effect the meeting of the minds on the sale, purchase, exchange, mortgage, lease or joint venture, or other similar transactions on real estate or any interest therein.”

Real Estate Salesperson Definition

As per Section 3-g-(5) of the RESA Law IRR, a Real estate salesperson is defined as:

“Real estate salesperson – a duly accredited natural person who performs service for, and in behalf of a real estate broker who is registered and licensed by the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service for or in expectation of a share in the commission, professional fee, compensation or other valuable consideration.”

Other pertinent points in the RESA Law IRR

Other pertinent points in the RESA Law IRR concerning real estate salespersons can be found in Section 31, excerpts of which have been quoted below:

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“Real estate salespersons shall be under the direct supervision and accountability of a real estate broker. As such, they cannot by themselves be signatories to a written agreement involving a real estate transaction unless the real estate broker who has direct supervision and accountability over them is also a signatory thereto. No real estate salesperson, either directly or indirectly, can negotiate, mediate or transact any real estate transaction for and in behalf of a real estate broker without first securing an authorized accreditation as real estate salesperson for the real estate broker, as prescribed by the Board. A real estate broker shall be guilty of violating R.A. No. 9646 or the IRR for employing or utilizing the services of a real estate salesperson when he/she has not secured the required accreditation from the Board prior to such employment.

No salesperson shall be entitled to receive or demand a fee, commission or compensation of any kind from any person, other than the duly licensed real estate broker who has direct control and supervision over him, for any service rendered or work done by such salesperson in any real estate transaction.

No violation of this provision shall be a cause for revocation or suspension of the certificate of registration of the real estate broker unless there was actual knowledge of such violation or the broker retains the benefits, profits or proceeds of a transaction wrongfully negotiated by the salesperson.”

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What I have quoted above states the boundaries between a real estate salesperson and a real estate broker, which I believe is a good way of pointing out the differences between the two.

As stated above, I would like to avoid any subjective interpretation in my part, so I choose to leave it at that… for now.

What do you think? Let me know your take on this by leaving a comment below.

About Jay Castillo

Jay is the founder of Foreclosurephilippines.com where he shares real estate investing tips and foreclosed property listings. He quit his job as an I.T. Manager to focus on Real Estate Investing and Internet Marketing. He is a PRC licensed Real Estate Broker (REB License # 3194)... [Read more]

Jay, but in terms of accreditation for a real estate salesperson- what credentials would they have- i.e. a license?

leon

ops… i didnt realise that i might not get an unswer as the last post is 7 months ago ….

leon

greetings, can you please explain how really work the real estate in your country … despite look simple from the law point of view, people are still act as agent or register agent with real estate licence of others people. This make very complicate to see a clear on the real estate parameters, of your country, The Philippines. People act as agent charging from 14 to 17 % and the reality is they are not even agent or part their forth normally they dont even have a clue of what they are doin end despite this filipinos people still use this so call agents

Jie

I would like to ask, if I can get commission from a licensed broker who asked me a favor to look for properties for sale and asking owners to submit requirements for them? I’m sorry this is seem to be a dumbfounding question. I am newbie and learning about real estate business just now.

http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com Jay Castillo

Hi Jie, if you are not yet an accredited salesperson under that broker, I believe you can still get compensated but not as one performing the duties of a salesperson under that broker because if you do, you would be violating the RESA law. To be safe, just make sure you are not doing the following which should only be done by a licensed broker or his/her accredited agents:

“… acts as an agent of a party in a real estate transaction to offer, advertise, solicit, list, promote, mediate, negotiate or effect the meeting of the minds on the sale, purchase, exchange, mortgage, lease or joint venture, or other similar transactions on real estate or any interest therein.”

The question is, when you say you look for properties for sale and ask owners to submit requirements for them, is this already included in what I quoted above or not? Again, to be on the safe side, just make sure the favors that you do for that broker cannot be interpreted as acts constituting the practice of real estate service

I think that answers it! This law is very simple and concise, no further explanation needed… =)

http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com Jay Castillo

Thanks Chuckkk! Actually, I’m just laying the groundwork for my next post about real estate salespersons. It seems a lot of people, including myself, are unaware that for a broker like me to work with a salesperson who is not under him/her, they must work this out first with the broker to whom the salesperson is accredited with, in order to be RESA compliant. At least that’s what I understood with the IRR. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe this means salespersons who contact me directly should clear things up first with their broker.

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Hi, I'm Jay Castillo, a full time real estate investor, real estate broker, and internet marketing practitioner.I started foreclosurephilippines.com in 2008 as a tool where I keep all of my listings of foreclosed properties and lessons learned about real estate investing in the Philippines.No, I am not a "guru", I can only share what I have learned based on my own experience. Click here to read more...